GutterPutter

The last few years in frontman Josh Homme’s life had not been kind to him at all. From a publicised divorce and custody case against his ex-wife to recovering from his cancer removal surgery, life feels like hell to him in ways that are unimaginable since 2013’s …Like Clockwork. His main band, Queens of the Stone Age, had just got out of a six-year hiatus after their relatively solid yet overlooked record in Villains. The unsuccessful branching into dance rock on top of personal drama is asking for a return to form through a record that, in Homme’s words, “sounds as brutal as it feels to be alive right now.”

The album is named In Times New Roman…, a form of pent-up frustration that’s begging to be blown up through soaring guitar riffs and Homme’s wallowing over his misfortunes. Knowing the time when QOTSA hit their commercial and critical peak, you would think that jabs on how now just doesn’t feel like the good ol’ days would also sneak in. However, this has proven to not be the case as much of the songs instead deal with exploitation, conformity, and power dynamics. What is felt here is a largely personal, confessional in tone record that doesn’t hold back on its biggest frustrations.

The lead single ‘Paper Machete’, as one example, serves as a firing spot against what is allegedly his former wife for defamation and manipulation. With infectious riffs and sheer bravado, there’s little incentive to not think that QOTSA have lost any of their rough-edged charm. Meanwhile, ‘Obscenery’ and ‘Time & Place’ turns the image of a male sex symbol into an off-kilter attack on the music industry in all its sludgy dissonances and militant drumming. Adding onto the criticisms is the catchy and wordplay-riddled ‘What The Peephole Say’ that attempts to reassert individuality through animalistic metaphors and a stronger punch that’s tied with hard rock.

What makes the album interesting is how closely it ties with toxic relationships and sexuality. The subtext of the previously mentioned divorce and custody case causes love to be represented as being thorny at best or worthless at worst. ‘Negative Space’ and ‘Emotion Sickness’ asks whether or not it’s worth keeping up with a love life that’s crumbling all together. With a jagged sense of production that respectively emphasises on menacing basslines and multi-layered choral singing, these elements add a nice level of texture to help delve deep into Homme’s bitterness. ‘Sicily’ calls back to taking apart the male sex symbol idea with the twist being that we’re looking at the dark and codependent side of intercourse with a nice falsetto and a cathartic use of horns within the chorus. 

In turn, the biggest highlights within In Times New Roman… adopts a more philosophical tone surrounding life, freedom, and legacy. Similar to …Like Clockwork, there lies a clear investment in wondering whether there’s a purpose to our mortality when the whole world is against us. ‘Carnavoyeur’ evokes a certain existentialist vibe through its downbeat verses that stand in contrast with the self-affirming chorus. “When there’s nothing I can do / Accept, enjoy the view”, croons Homme before the bellowing guitars as he accepts his mortality, “When there’s nothing I can do / I smile”. The symbolic metaphor through the vulture in the outro concludes the acceptance toward the circle of life in all its nitty-gritty wit.

The final track in ‘Straight Jacket Fitting’ sees a very rare instance of politics in QOTSA’s discography due to the United States being imagined as a vestigial empire. Remember my comment on how there’s no complaining about the present day? Here, the acknowledgement of the past is terrifying in its nostalgic aura as Americans, as the “new [Romans]”, were faced with the need to wake up and face the reality of how much has changed. In a thematic sense, we can sense the fear of “technolojesus” and “corporate raiders” who were not only corroding the old world, but are also vying for control under the guise of “saving”. ‘Straight Jacket Fitting’ proves to be a long, yet epic closer In Times New Roman…

Fans of the band and stoner rock will more likely find this album to be a gem. I feel that people underrate it for coming off more as a bit of a relative rehash of QOTSA’s previous efforts, yet there’s a certain personality around it that gives off its subtle identity. You shouldn’t go into this record with the expectation that it will push the boundary of the genre’s main conventions. Instead, enter it as a bit of rage relief and entertainment. You might be surprised at how hard it can hit.